Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to cancel student debt — a priority that has seemingly fallen to the wayside in the first year of Biden’s presidency.
“Not thinking today would be a great day for President Biden and Vice President Harris to #CancelStudentDebt,” Schumer said as part of his frequent reminders for the cause on social media over the months:
Not thinking today would be a great day for President Biden and Vice President Harris to #CancelStudentDebt. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 12, 2021
By canceling student debt, President Biden would give our economy an immediate boost & help close the racial wealth gap for Black & Brown borrowers
I was thrilled to join @SenAlexPadilla, @JMurguia_Unidos, & @wearemitu to push @POTUS to #CancelStudentDebt https://t.co/ZyvZ3D00qw
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 10, 2021
Student debt has become not a ladder up, but an anchor weighing Americans down—making it harder to start a family, buy a home, and live with financial independence.
President Biden can #CancelStudentDebt and provide relief to the millions of borrowers drowning in debt.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 21, 2021
Today would be a great day for President Biden and Vice President Harris to #CancelStudentDebt.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 29, 2021
Throughout the year, Democrats have begged Biden to take action on student loan debt, asking him to cancel a large portion — up to $50,000. However, Biden has largely balked at the prospect, stating during a townhall in February that he “will not make that happen.” [per student] Instead, he said he is “prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not $50,000”:
From the Biden town hall on CNN last night, this questioner asked about canceling $50,000 worth of student debt:
“What will you do to make that happen?”
“I will not make that happen.” pic.twitter.com/Y7auUT2YQZ— The Recount (@therecount) February 17, 2021
Biden received significant backlash for his answer, prompting the White House to clarify his remarks shortly thereafter.
“He was reiterating his previous stated position, which is that he doesn’t favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitations,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the time, adding that Biden:
…will ask them [the Department of Justice] to conduct a legal review of his authority to act on executive action in conjunction with a policy review from his Domestic Policy Council on how executive action debt relief, if any, should be targeted.
However, months later, nothing has been done on this front. While Biden extended the pause on federal student loan payments initiated by former President Trump last year, student loan payments are expected to resume in January 2022.
Related posts:
Views: 0